Leeds United are currently gunning to secure promotion to the Premier League at the second time of asking after they fell short in the play-offs last season.
Daniel Farke’s men finished third in the Championship before losing to Southampton in the play-off final at Wembley, which left them vulnerable to losing their star players in the summer transfer window.
The Whites had so many impressive talents at their disposal, as shown in the clips below, as Wilfried Gnonto, Crysencio Summerville, and Georginio Rutter caught the eye at the top end of the pitch.
Ultimately, Rutter completed a move to sign for Brighton & Hove Albion, Glen Kamara left to join Rennes in France, Archie Gray signed for Tottenham Hotspur, and Crysencio Summerville signed for West Ham United.
The Dutch winger won the Championship Player of the Year award and his form convinced the Hammers to splash out a fee in excess of £25m, including add-ons, to secure his services last summer.
Since making the move to the London Stadium last year, Summerville has failed to hit the heights that he reached during his time at Elland Road.
Crysencio Summerville's form this season
The former Feyenoord youngster racked up a staggering haul of 19 goals and nine assists in 43 appearances in the Championship for the West Yorkshire outfit in the 2023/24 campaign.
He provided a regular threat as both a scorer and a creator of goals from the left wing for Leeds, cutting in on his right foot to devastating effect week-in-week-out in the second tier.
It was up to the 23-year-old star to prove that he could continue to offer a constant threat in the final third at Premier League level after his move to West Ham in the summer.
Unfortunately, the Dutch winger has yet to make a name for himself in the top-flight with the Hammers. He has recorded one assist and one goal in 19 appearances for the club in the league so far this season, starting seven of those matches.
Summerville, as evidenced by his seven starts so far, has been a bit-part player for West Ham, who have changed managers from Julen Loptegui to Graham Potter, in the Premier League.
Non-penalty xG
0.18
Bottom 39%
Non-penalty goals
0.11
Bottom 26%
Shot-creating actions
4.01
Top 36%
Expected Assisted Goals
0.19
Top 49%
Assists
0.11
Bottom 24%
As you can see in the table above, the former Leeds star has been decent, but not outstanding, at creating high-quality chances for his teammates, but has struggled to score or get into many goalscoring positions.
Whilst Summerville has failed to hit his stride in the Premier League for his new team this season, there is a former Whites target who is outperforming him in the division.
Leeds wanted another Dutch winger
Former head coach Jesse Marsch revealed that Leeds wanted to sign Cody Gakpo from Dutch giants PSV in the summer transfer window back in 2022, and that they came “so close” to getting a deal over the line.
Leeds United’s sporting director at the time, Victor Orta, had even gone as far as to go and meet the family to discuss a possible move to Elland Road for the forward.
Transfer Focus
In a documentary, Gakpo later confirmed that he had three options on the table; stay at PSV, move to Southampton, or move to Leeds, ahead of a league game against Volendam in the Eredivisie.
The Netherlands international told himself that he would have signed for the Saints if he scored once or Leeds if he landed a brace. Instead, he scored a hat-trick to stay with the Dutch side.
As you can see in the highlights above, Gakpo scored three times in the win over Volendam and that, ultimately, sealed his fate in the 2022 summer transfer window.
He remained at PSV until Liverpool swooped in to sign him for a reported fee of up to £45m in the January transfer window at the start of 2023.
The Dutch winger’s form for the Premier League giants this season may mean that Leeds regret missing out on his signature, as he has outperformed Summerville in the top-flight.
Cody Gakpo's form this season
The 25-year-old star has racked up 16 goals and five assists in all competitions for the Reds so far this term, as he has provided a big threat at the top end of the pitch from a left-wing position for Arne Slot.
Gakpo found the back of the net 15 times in the Premier League in his first 18 months at Anfield, scoring seven in the second half of the 2022/23 campaign and eight last season.
The Liverpool sensation has stepped his game up since Slot came in to replace Jurgen Klopp in the dugout at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, with a return of eight goals in just 16 league starts so far this term.
As you can see in the chart above, Gakpo has also significantly outperformed Summerville in the Premier League in a host of key attacking metrics per 90, which shows that he is currently offering far more to his team on the left flank than the West Ham flop is.
The left winger was described as a “right footed Arjen Robben” by writer Sam McQuire earlier this term, due to his ability to cut in on his strong foot from a wide position to cause problems in the final third.
That is pretty significant praise when you consider that Robben produced 144 goals and 101 assists in 309 appearances for Bayern Munich during his playing days.
Appearances (starts)
24 (16)
xG
5.46
Goals
8
Big chances created
7
Assists
3
As you can see in the table above, Gakpo has been lethal for Liverpool in the Premier League, cutting in from the left, by outperforming his xG by between two and three goals.
He has also been left down a bit by his teammates, who have only scored three times from the seven ‘big chances’ that he has created, and this shows that the forward can provide quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals.
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Marsch and Orta may, now, look back on their failure to sign Gakpo as a big mistake, given what he has gone on to achieve in comparison to Summerville.